The present invention relates generally to harness board assemblies and more particularly to tools for installing a harnessing device around a plurality of wires disposed on a harness board.
Harness boards are well known and are commonly used in the automotive industry to position electrical wires, terminals, connectors and the like into a desired configuration. Specifically, electrical wires are positioned on the harness board in the configuration in which the wires will be arranged when installed in an automobile. The wires are temporarily held in place on the harness board by pins and clamps which are affixed to the harness board. In use, after the electrical wires have been disposed on the harness board in a predetermined configuration, a plurality of harnessing devices, such as cable ties, are used to bundle the wires at various locations and thereby hold the wires in the desired configuration.
After a sufficient number of harnessing devices have been used to hold the wires in its desired configuration, the plurality of wires are removed from the harness board while still in its desired configuration and are positioned within the automobile for use. It should be noted that if the plurality of wires are not bundled together properly, the overall configuration of the wires may shift when removed from the harness board. This may prevent the plurality of wires from fitting through the wire insertion holes formed in the automobile, thereby making it impossible to affix the wiring harness to the automobile.
Very often cable ties are used to bundle the plurality of wires in its desired configuration. Commonly, cable ties comprise an elongated strip of material, such as plastic, having a head at one end, a tail at the other end and either teeth or rungs disposed along the length of the strip. Feeding the tail of the tie through the head results in the tie taking the shape of a loop with the tail engaging and being locked in position by a pawl inside the head, the tail being incapable of removal once it is inserted in the head.
It has been found that the act of wrapping the plurality of cable ties around the wires positioned on the harness board is often difficult to perform. In particular, it has been found that it is often difficult for the user to wedge the cable tie underneath the wires and above the harness board sufficiently so as to enable the cable tie to be wrapped around the wires to form a bundle.
Accordingly, various approaches have been made to facilitate the wrapping of bundling devices around wires positioned on a harness board.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,436 to M. Tabuchi et al, there is disclosed a wire harness assembling board and band clamp binding examining device therefor. The wire harness assembling board is provided with positioning members. In binding band clamps by a band clamp binder, the band clamp binder is engaged with the positioning members to position the band clamp binder. If the band clamp binder is engaged with the positioning members, signals are sent to a clamp binding examining device from operating pins through signal lines. In the clamp binding examining device, the signals are counted, to inform a worker of passing when the number of signals becomes a predetermined number. As a result, it is possible to satisfactorily prevent the band clamps from not being bound by the band clamp binder.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,996 to V. Kurmis, there is disclosed a system for arranging and binding an elongated object, especially a cable harness. The arrangement for ordering and binding an elongated object, in particular a cable tree, comprises an ordering device for example a laying board with supports for a cable tree, which determines the position of the object. It also comprises a binding device which binds the object with a tape. To this end, the binding device has a wrapping guide which wraps the tape around the object and a sealing device with a device for joining the ends of the tape. The sealing device can be moved relative to the ordering device so that it can be placed at the various binding sites in the object. According to the invention, at least part of the wrapping guide is arranged on the ordering device, i.e., at each of the binding sites. The sealing device is therefore not attached to the binding device until it is placed on one of the wrapping guides. To this end, the sealing device and the wrapping guide are fitted with co-operating positioning devices.